


A Daughter's Journey

by Angel_L_V



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-15 19:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17535230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_L_V/pseuds/Angel_L_V
Summary: When Raven left Taiyang, she took her daughter Yang with her. She was raised by the Branwen tribe. But she has questions that Raven knows she needs to answer about the father Yang never knew. (A reposting & continuation of a piece written for the weekly writing prompts over at r/RWBY with some minor additions and grammatical fixes). Two-Shot.





	1. Goodbyes

Raven had done some truly terrible things in her life to protect her tribe. Things truly unspeakable, even when conversing with the worst of individuals. But she did it for her family, her tribe, and most recently for her daughter. The blond had started to truly improve with the tribe. When she was young, she was weak and sad just like her father. But, in time, she grew to be so much more. To say Raven had some doubts would be an understatement. The entire trip back to the tribe with a baby in her arms made her question everything she thought she knew. _Why hadn’t she just left her with Taiyang?_ She thought. He could take care of her, and with Qrow leaving the tribe for good, he could also be there. One day, she would learn to fight as her father did, and she could become strong. But still Raven took her. Her little daughter, wrapped in nothing but a blanket as she slipped away one night for the open wilderness. Raven looked into those lilac eyes and knew she couldn’t risk the two of them ruining her own flesh and blood. It is true that Yang should naturally carry the last name of her father, but Raven had seen her angry. She saw those beautiful lilac orbs turn her own crimson whenever her daughter became enraged. The little girl was a Branwen, and she deserved better.

That decision and the journey she had taken along with it felt like it was only moments ago. But as Raven looked out from just outside her tent at her very own her daughter who stood, clear as day with her unmistakably bright blond hair, in her black and red jacket with matching pants, boots, and even sunglasses, she knew she made the right choice in the end. Her daughter was here, she had grown up under her watchful eyes, and she was safe from Ozpin and Salem's claws digging into her. Raven had made sure to make the young woman every bit as strong and ferocious as her, and judging by the brawl about to start, Raven could most certainly say she both succeeded and was proud of her daughter. But of course Raven would be proud of Yang as she stood in front of three other of the tribe’s bandits, ready for a fight. What started the fight mattered little to her. All that mattered was Yang’s performance. _Break them,_ Raven thought as she waited for the first punch to be thrown or the first shot to be fired. Show them how strong you are. The three charged Yang, but she was far too quick and far too strong for any of them. Any gunfire or dust hurled her way was either dodged or defected both quickly and stylishly, and any attempt to attack her up close was met with the force of a truck that was her black gauntlets. They were the shape of a raven's head, with tiny lilac crystals for eyes and sharpened blades where their beaks would be. Raven had warned her daughter about using such a close range weapon without any form of ranged abilities in battle, but Yang had ignored her, instead using her semblance as a crutch. Raven tried to explain to her how much of a problem this was, but when Yang ignored her, she opted to instead let her learn on her own just how much she did so in her own way. But equipped with her gauntlets, these three were no challenge whatsoever, and Yang made short work of them, all of which were on the floor in less than a minute, creating quite a spectacle for the rest of the tribe, who had watched with a modicum of peaked interest. The aftermath of the fight left the tribe in a silence that hung over them like a dark cloud, only to be broken by the light clapping of their leader. “Fantastic, Yang” Raven told her. “Nothing but the best from another Branwen.” Yang didn’t even glance at her mother. She simply walked away, returning to her own tent. Raven closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. She’s still angry, she thought as she began to walk to her daughter’s tent, only to feel a hand touch her shoulder. Raven tensed as she turned, only to meet Vernal’s gaze and relax immediately. “Raven,” she said to her leader. “Give Yang some space. I think she just needs to be alone.” Raven eyed Vernal skeptically. She had been Yang’s closest friend for so long that it had hardly been a surprise when Raven had caught them together in her tent, Vernal's arms wrapped around her daughter's waist. After that, they made no effort to hide their relationship, and excluding a few small awkward moments among the three, if anything the three's dynamic had improved. Vernal had already looked up to Raven like a daughter to a mother, and despite the age difference that did sometimes make Raven a bit uneasy, Yang and Vernal complimented each other well. And given the limited interpersonal circumstances of the tribe, Raven was overall okay with the two of them being together. Also, it's not like she could really stop them. Raven knew the things young love could do to a person, and did not want to drive a wedge between her daughter and her, not to mention that the two of them being invaluable to the tribe. However, just because Vernal was closer to Yang in some aspects than Raven could never be and in some areas would never wish to be, that did not make her infallible. Yang didn’t need to be left alone. _She needs the truth,_ Raven thought. _Something I've never given her_. So she shrugged Vernal off of her shoulder, and told the girl as much. Vernal, who had a clear understanding of the severity of the situation, knew not to argue as Raven passed her and continued on her way to her daughter.

Entering Yang’s tent, Raven was greeted by the sight of her daughter staring into a mirror, no emotion in her face. Without looking directly at her mother, Yang spoke. “What do you want?” she asked with complete indifference. Raven sighed. “I want to never have another argument like our last.” Yang chuckled. “Then maybe you shouldn’t try and hide the truth from me.”

Raven shook her head. “That’s not what I was doi-”

“Then what the hell were you doing!” Yang snapped, turning and walking to face her mother, their faces only inches apart. “You hid so much from me for years, and still, long after you promised you would tell me, I’ve learned NOTHING about him! Not even his name!” Raven closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. Her daughter was right. She needed to know the truth. About her family, their history, and the part they played in the endless war that had consumed so many lives for nothing. But for so long, Raven hid everything about her family from Yang. Raven couldn’t help but shake the feeling that what little of her father she had in her would ruin everything. The very possibility that Yang would go follow Tai, or worse, Ozpin into a life of nothing but stagnation and weakness truly disturbed her. But in the end, her daughter was her own person. She needed to choose to be strong, or she would never truly be.

Raven opened her eyes, and saw Yang’s meet hers, practically glowing the crimson red that they shared.

 

“Your father’s name is Taiyang.”

 

Yang’s crimson eyes faded into her natural lilac as she practically stumbled back. “What?” she asked her mother in pure disbelief.

“You were born on the island of Patch, in the Kingdom of Vale. Your father and I were living together at the time. Our relationship obviously never worked out. After I left to return to the tribe…” Raven paused, letting out a somewhat loud gulp before continuing. “... I took you without telling him. By the time he had figured out what I had done, we were gone. I took you back here, but he wouldn’t stop looking for you.”

Raven shook her head, and her lips started to tremble. Yang’s eyes widened. She'd never seen her mother like this.

“He eventually found the tribe, of course. He had help from our old teammate, Summer Rose and your uncle, Qrow Branwen. “ She cracked a simple smile, but Yang could tell there was pain behind it. “My old team were always a pain.”

Yang’s mind was spinning. This was too much for her. Her father’s name, her birth home, the revelation that she had been practically stolen by her mother, and that she also had an uncle?! Her brain was struggling to process all of this.

“The three of them came to take you back,” Raven continued, looking down. “But I refused. I told them they were weak and that you needed to be strong. And rather than fighting the whole tribe for you, a fight they honestly might have won I might add, they left, but Tai vowed to one day get you back.” Yang was astonished, and she had no words.

“Qrow and I keep tabs on one another, though.” Raven locked eyes with her young daughter. “Taiyang is still around, and he even ended up in a relationship with Summer…” Raven trailed off, and stopped talking altogether. She was having difficulty with this, to say the least.

Yang couldn’t wait for her mother to continue. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you that mad he found someone el-”

 

“They had a daughter.”

 

Yang took a moment to fully realize the implications of what her mother just told her. Soon enough, though, her eyes started to slowly widen. _No,_  she thought.

Raven looked to her daughter and nodded.

 

“You have a sister.”

 

Yang's entire body was shaking. She couldn’t handle all of this, not at once. She had this whole other world that she had been connected to and never knew. She started to get angry.

“What gave you the right to not tell me any of this?!” Yang yelled at her mother. “My whole life had this other side to it that you wouldn’t tell me about! How could you?! You’re my mothe-”

“I WAS SCARED!” Raven screamed at her daughter.

Yang took a step back. Her mother had never screamed at her like that, and was never truly scared either. Worried about the tribe and its future? Of course, she cared about the tribe more than anything. But never truly afraid.

Raven put a single hand on her head. “I was so afraid that your father would come into your life and make you weak." she put her hand down, and walked closer to her. "I have spent your entire life trying to make you strong, and I was afraid you would throw it all away because of your other family.”

Yang bit her lip in irritation. “You didn’t trust me,” she said coldly.

Raven shook her head silently. “I always trusted you. Besides myself and perhaps Vernal, you’re the strongest person here. But I raised you, and I fell for your father’s weakness once before…” a tear came down her cheek, and Yang’s whole world somehow came crashing down even further before her. Her mother had never cried in front of her. Not once.

Raven saw her daughter’s shocked face, and her face fell frozen and expressionless, her eyes expressing all the sincerity and seriousness required as she told Yang the absolute truth for the very first time. “I didn’t trust myself. I didn't trust my ability to raise you. I was never cut out for motherhood, and I knew it long before you came around. I’ve been so worried for so long that I failed to make you strong. And how could I be strong enough to ever lead the tribe knowing I couldn’t even make my own daughter strong?”

Raven then took out a letter and tossed it in Yang’s direction. By the time Yang caught it, she was already speaking. “That letter has the location in Patch where they live.” She paused. “And the second address is for Signal Academy, the combat school where your sister trains at. I hear both Tai and Qrow teach there.”

Yang looked down at the letter in her hands, then up at her mother. “How do you know all this?”

Raven inhaled. “Qrow gave it to me the last time I saw him. That letter is the closest thing I’ve ever had to contact with your father in over ten years.” She smiled at her daughter. “Yang, getting to Patch will probably take months, and it is going to be rough. The tribe both can’t and won’t go with you, but I know Vernal will go with you, even if I forbid it. You two are too close.” Raven grimaced before continuing. “Without you two, the tribe loses a lot of power. I’m not saying don’t go, but make sure this matters enough to you before you do.”

Yang looked at the letter. Then to her mother eyes. She nodded, and said, “it does matter enough, mom.”

Raven nodded. “I figured. Just make sure you come back, Yang. Though you might normally have his last name, you're still a Branwen at heart.”

Yang smiled and nodded. “I will. I love you, mom.”

Raven smiled, brushing some dirt from Yang's cheek. She probably got it on her during the fight. "I love you too." She rarely said it, but Yang always knew it was true.

Raven was beyond worried. Worried she’d lose two of her best fighters. Worried that another of her family and tribe would sacrifice so much of their own life for Ozpin’s idealistic crusade of nonsense that meant nothing in the end. But most of all, Raven was worried she might lose her daughter. Raven had told herself to just treat her like another one of her tribe, that they were all like her children. That lasted about five minutes. She couldn’t hide it very well, and although she tried her best to distance herself from her daughter, to try and make their attachment less strong… all it did was hurt them both. So she stopped, and began to accept the bond that they had. It wasn't perfect. Few things ever are. But as she saw her daughter gathering together clothes and ammunition, when they announced that Vernal and her were leaving on a “mission” the next morning, and up until the final moment when the two girls left together, Raven knew she made the right choice by not putting a wall between her and Yang. All she could do now was hope that her daughter would do the same.


	2. Introductions

_Six Months,_ Yang thought to herself. _I’ve lost six months of my life on this trip._ She smiled. Six months for a journey she knew not truly the destination, not what she was even looking for when she reached it. She had so many doubts, so many confusing thoughts when she left the tribe for Vale. Those thoughts persisted the whole journey. Why as she even looking for these people? What could they give her? How would they feel about her dropping in out of the blue? Would her half-sister even want to meet her? What about her father? Would he even care to get to know her? If she had any one great danger to worry about on this trip, it was her worrying itself. Any bandits they passed they could fight off, any town they went to just meant more money for them, as most towns outside the Kingdoms and in the southern area of Anima were always in need of a Huntsman. While they held no licenses, most didn’t care as long as the job got done. The Grimm in her way were nothing. Between her and Vernal, at most they were either a minor annoyance or just a payday waiting to happen.

 _Vernal_. Yang looked at her as the boat they were on cruised through the smooth waters of Vale. She was beautiful, tough, and so loyal she would do anything for the people she cared about. Yang smiled whenever she saw her face, she was so enamored. But that presented a problem for her, in a way. Yang couldn’t imagine life without her, and they both had a duty first and foremost to the tribe. Yang wasn’t sure she could do that anymore. She loved her tribe, they were like a family to her. A highly dysfunctional family, to be sure, but a family nonetheless. But compared to Vernal, she wasn’t sure who she would choose if push came to shove, and that both disturbed and terrified her.

Either way, they were almost at the end of the road. Or the sea, if the boat captain was concerned. He was nice, they supposed. Although they did have to admit, his jokes about the water got old fast. Or rather they were never good to begin with. Him asking them to look out and guess what he could “sea” was just about the worst attempt at humor Yang had ever heard in her life. Gods, she hated puns.

Despite that, the ride was rather cheap. Getting the Lien to cross had been trivial, but it did help that they spent so little. Vale security had a Grimm hive too close to the city. All Vernal and Yang had to do was charge the security forces half the going rate of two Huntsman, and no questions were asked about their age or their “huntress licenses.” Apparently they did their job so well they deserved a bonus, too. Couple that with a cheap ferry ride, and they might be able to go somewhere nice to eat while they were there.

“So much for law and order.” Vernal joked after they had left the security office, Lien in hand. Now they were staring out into the open water, Vernal’s arms wrapped around the front of Yang’s waist from behind, Yang herself leaning against the rails of the port edge of the boat.

Yang’s hair blew in the wind as they approached their destination. _Patch,_ she thought as she turned to stare at the island. She’d heard of the island once or twice. It was supposedly a very peaceful place. Few Grimm, mostly a residential area, so densely populated in fact they had their own combat school to themselves. If Yang were to be honest, the place sounded boring to her. No fighting, no people or Grimm to test yourself against. It was sad, really. All of these people, trading their freedom for some small sense of safety.

Vernal leaned up to Yang and quietly asked, “Have you thought about what you’re going to do once we’re there?”

Yang turned to face her girlfriend, pulling her hair back behind her head so that she could look at her. “Vernal,” she started, “I’ve had six months to think about it. Of course.”

“Well, what are you going to do?” She asked.

Yang sighed. “First we have to find out what part of the island they live at. Then, we can check into a hotel, and I can go there and…” Yang trailed off, her eyes darting around for a moment before she turned back to face the open ocean. “I don’t know, really.”

Vernal looked at her questioningly. “Yang Branwen doesn’t know what she wants? Well, that’s a first.” She kissed Yang's head, chuckling at the thought.

Yang took one of Vernal’s hands into her own, and lightly squeezed it. “What’s wrong?”

Yang bit her bottom lip, and though Vernal couldn’t see it, she could feel Yang tense up further at the question. “Vernal,” Yang started, “I want you to stay at the hotel when we check in. This is something I have to do on my own.”

There was silence from the two of them, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the boat going through the calm waves of the water around them. The silence dragged on, and Yang looked down at the floor. She knew Vernal wouldn’t like this. She didn’t like it herself, either. They were in a strange place that neither had ever been to, and although all the stories of Patch were that it was a pretty safe place, they’d both been trained very well, and honestly had so little to fear it shouldn't have mattered. But Yang meant what she had said as well. She needed to do this on her own.

Vernal eventually mumbled out an “okay,” and they spent the rest of the boat trip in silence, still holding one another tightly. Yang knew that her girlfriend knew she wouldn’t ask her to stay behind unless she really needed it, but that consoled her little. Vernal had been with her the entire trip, and she hadn't once questioned Yang’s decision to leave the tribe to find answers. They had kept each other alive all these past six months. Their relationship was naturally close before they left, but now? It was everything. They needed to be together. Moments apart were agonizing for both of them. So they held each other close as the boat ride continued. Patch was not far from the mainland, so the silence didn’t last much more than thirty minutes. But even after they docked, little was said. Yang asked Vernal if she wanted anything to eat before they got to the hotel, but neither of them had much of an appetite. Vernal asked them how long Yang wanted to stay, and she gave her a simple reply of “I don’t know.” A small transaction later and they had a rather cheap room at an inn and with the Lien they had left they could stay there for about three more days before either leaving or having to head back to the mainland to work.

As Yang gathered herself for her walk to her father’s house Vernal watched her the whole time with a pained expression. “I know,” Yang told her. “I promise I’ll be back tonight, no matter what happens.” Yang approached her girlfriend and gave her a quick kiss before leaving the hotel and starting her walk.

Less than an hour in, Yang knew she was close. They had gotten lucky with the placement of the inn, so the walk was rather short. _Then again, Everyone in the family either teaches or goes to Signal, so they’d have to be close._ Yang thought as she kept walking. She looked up, and from the sun guessed it was sometime in the mid-afternoon. She closed her eyes, and stopped walking. _What am I doing? Why am I here? What am I looking for?_ Yang had never been this frustrated in her life.

“Umm, hello?” she heard behind her in a very cheery, high-pitched voice. Yang turned to see a short pale-skinned girl in a red and black dress that looked a few years younger than her.

Yang backed way and immediately dropped into a combat stance. _How did she sneak up on me?_ She thought, cautious. The girl, however, jumped back at the sight of Yang startled.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry!” the girl exclaimed, putting her hands in front of her and leaning back in both fear and surprise. “I didn't mean to scare you!”

Yang eyed her up and down and, sensing no danger, lowered her guard somewhat, but remained alert. “Who are you? Why are you following me “

The girl looked sheepish by nature, but eventually she spoke. “I-I’m not following you. I’m walking on the trail to my house.” she pointed to the road behind Yang. “A-also I’m Ruby. You know, because you asked…”

“I thought only one thing ended at that road.”

The girl nodded slowly, but raised an eyebrow. “You’re right. My house is at the end of this road. I live with my dad.”

Yang stared at this girl, and all of her caution faded away as she realized just who the standing in front of her was. Her lips started trembling as her arms fell to her sides.

Ruby leaned her head to the side, looking at the blonde with some concern and her eyebrow still raised. “Are you okay?” she asked her.

Yang blinked rapidly for a moment before collecting herself. “Umm… I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were Taiyang’s daughter.”

Ruby’s demeanor immediately changed into one without concern and full of happiness as she chuckled for a moment. “Oh, you know my dad. He should be home right now. His best friend Qrow, he’s a teacher at Signal, the combat school where I got to, is supposed to be there as well. Do you know him too?”

Yang's mind flooded with questions. _Qrow? As in Qrow Branwen? My uncle?_ She kept them to herself, however. “Um, I’ve heard of them both, actually. I’m not from around here, and I came to speak wtith your father about something.”

Ruby smiled, “well then you’re going the right way!” The girl's smile clearly rarely left her face and was a little unsettling to Yang if she were to be honest. Not that happiness was something foreign to her. Ruby's cheery nature justvseemed foreign to the blonde. “Hey!” Ruby exclaimed soon after she previously spoke. “We can walk there together! What do you say?”

Yang hesitated, but quickly decided to go with her. _This is my half-sister,_ Yang thought. _I have to get to know her._

The conversation on what little remained of the walk was an active one, to say the least. Although it was mostly one-sided, Ruby responding to Yang’s simple questions with full monologues in which she always ended up rambling, Yang learned quite a bit about her little sister. She was two years younger than her and had lived with Taiyang her whole life. She had never been outside of the Vale territories, which had initially shocked Yang, but the two managed to bond over Ruby talking about combat school. If there was one thing Yang understood, it was fighting. Perhaps one day the two could spar. Yang noticed the talkative nature of her younger half-sibling and found it somewhat strange that she made no mention of her mother. But just as quickly as that consideration went into Yang's mind, it left.  _If my mother is anything to go on,_ she thought, _our father has a way with women who aren't the most affectionate of women. And given the girl's cheery nature, there might be a disconnect between them._  Yang could ask Summer herself when she met her anyway, so it mattered little.

Eventually, Yang saw the house in the distance, and her heart started racing. _This is it,_ she thought. _He’s in there._ Ruby waltzed up to the door and knocked quickly. A few moments later, the door opened. Yang looked past the open door and saw a blond, slightly tan man with blue eyes who wore a tan vest and some type of orange-looking shorts. He had a spaulder and a bracer on his right shoulder and arm, and as Yang stared at the man, her right hand started shaking. This was him.

The man glanced at Yang before looking back at his daughter and asked “Ruby, who is that with you?”

“Oh,” Ruby turned around and looked at Yang. “This is…” She paused. “ I don’t think you ever told me your name.”

Yang was silent. _What am I supposed to say?_ She thought. She couldn’t find the right words. Rather quickly, however, she decided to simply go with the most direct ones.

“Taiyang Xiao Long…” she paused, forcing up the ability to speak. “My name is Yang Branwen, and…” she didn’t finish, she looked into her father’s eyes as he realized who was in front of her. Ruby’s eyes widened into dinner plates of astonishment as she realized as well a moment or two later.

Taiyang looked down slightly at his daughter who was only an inch or two shorter than him, and as a tear started to form in his eyes, he weakly uttered “Yang?”

Yang smiled in return at the sight of her father tearing up at the very sight of her. “Hey, Dad,” she managed to say. Taiyang didn’t respond to that with words, he just closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her, Yang instinctively returning the gesture.

Taiyang was crying at this point, holding his daughter’s head in his right head. “My baby girl. I thought I might never see you again.”

Yang teared up as well before turning her gaze to Ruby, who was stunned. “Hey, sis,” Yang told her, still fighting back tears. “Sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know how to, I was just so thrown off by meeting you, I-” she didn’t get to finish her sentence as Ruby ran and hug her older half-sister and started crying too. Yang had managed to fight back the tears, and Taiyang had control of himself for the most part, but Ruby was flooding the ground with tears.

They eventually separated, and Taiyang asked her “how did you get here, Yang?”

Yang shrugged. “Mom hid who you were from me. One day I got sick of it, and we fought about it. A few days later she came to me and told me your name and where to find you. I spent six months trying to get here, and here I am. All the way from eastern Anima.”

Ruby’s eyes lit up. “You LIVED in Anima?” she squeaked out. “You have to tell me everything. What do the forests look like? Do they look like the Forever Fall Forests in northern Vale? Have you ever even been to northern Va-”

“Ruby.” Taiyang interrupted her. “I think Yang has had enough questions for one day.” After a brief pause, he chuckled out loudly, “I mean, if anything SHE should be the one asking about a thousand questions.”

Yang looked to her father and smiled. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

Taiyang side-stepped away from the door and said, “let’s begin with you coming inside and us having a talk as…” He trailed off and paused for a few moments before finishing his sentence with “as a family.”

Yang smiled at the thought and nodded. _This is happening,_ she thought as she entered the building. _I just met Taiyang Xiao Long._ The thought kept repeating in her head. _I just met him. Taiyang Xiao Long. My father was only a couple feet away from me, and just invited me into his house. This is unbelievable._

Most thoughts revolving this, however, all vanished at both the smell and taste of their tea. Yang loved it, and honestly found it to be the best tea she’d ever had. After thanking him, the three all sat down together in his living room. For the first few minutes, there was nothing but silence. To say it was awkward would be an understatement.

Eventually, Taiyang broke the silence. “Yang, why did you come here?”

Yang looked down. She knew she didn’t know, but the question was if she wanted to let him know that. _Do I trust him?_ She asked herself. _Should I ere on the side of caution?_

Yang sighed. If she was ever going to get anything out of this talk, she needed to tell the truth. “Honestly, I don’t know. For so long I wondered who you were, what you looked like. I mean, before my mom gave me your address the day before I left the tribe, I didn’t even know your name.” She then gestured to Ruby “and I didn’t even know you existed.” Yang looked around. “Where’s Summer? I thought you two were together.”

Yang looked at Ruby and her father, and in less than a second read the room well enough to know that she was dead. “I…” she was at a loss for words, and fortunately for her, Taiyang held up his hand to tell her to be quiet. 

“It’s fine. You couldn’t have known.” Ruby balled herself up a bit, unable to truly handle the tension and awkwardness building in the room.  _I wonder if mom knows,_ Yang thought, knowing that her mother had called the girl an old teammate of both her and Yang’s father. Despite her cold demeanor, Raven cared about people. Very few in the world had that honor, but when you did it never went away.

Almost as a saving grace for the three of them to not continue what would have quickly devolved even further into a mess of awkwardness, the front door opened and a tall man in a grey and white button up shirt and plain black pants. His shirt had a collar that wrapped around the sides and back of his neck and on his back was a short red cape that had clearly been through a lot, a couple of holes along its length. Everyone stared at him without saying anything, and he just stared back, confused. He had in one hand a bottle of clear liquor, and in the other some kind of magazine.

“Umm… hey?” he said before walking into the house. He looked at Yang curiously the whole time as he slowly walked in. “You look a little old to be a friend of Ruby’s, and you look like you’ve seen a fight or two. I haven’t seen you at Signal, and you look so familiar…”

Yang stood up, pretty sure she knew who this was. “Are you Qrow Branwen?” she asked.

The man didn’t answer her directly. “Who wants to know?” he asked, pretty much confirming who he was.

Taiyang stood up, “Qrow, tha-”

Yang put her hand up in his direction as a way to silence him just as he had done a second ago. She inhaled, and exhaled out “my name is Yang Branwen. You’re my uncle, I hear.”

Qrow’s eyes widened. “Yang?” His eyes looked her up and down, and he was stunned. “I see it. My sister's face, but with Tai’s frame and hair color, and your eyes…”

Yang didn’t say anything, she just stared at him. “Did I get anything from you?” Yang joked, trying to ease the tension in the room.

Qrow shrugged, and held out the bottle for her, asking “can you handle drinking? I know the tribe let us do it early on.”

Yang gave a wide smile, her face full of determination. “I drank the whole tribe under. Twice.”

Qrow smiled back, but Taiyang interrupted them, rising and getting in between Qrow and Yang, snatching the bottle from his drunkard friend. “I’m not letting my daughter get drunk the first time I’m meeting her.”

Both Qrow and Yang shrugged in acknowledgment, doing the exact same movement. When they both realized it, they both let out a small chuckle. Taiyang looked at his oldest daughter with dismay. “Honestly, Yang, I’m surprised that Raven even let you go. Especially alone.”

Yang cocked her head to the side in confusion, before remembering he didn’t know about Vernal. “First of all, I’m not alone. My girlfriend Vernal and I have a hotel a couple of miles away…” she paused. “And to be honest, mom didn’t want me here. She was worried, no, she was terrified of me going.”

Taiyang nodded slowly. “That sounds more like her,” he said very neutrally. Whether that was a compliment or an insult, Yang had no idea.

“I’d never seen her so afraid in my life.” Yang knew she had to mention it, so she swallowed and continued. “She said she was afraid that you’d make me weak. She said…” Yang didn’t know if she should say it or not, but decided to be honest. “She said she didn’t trust her ability to make me strong enough. She said she’d fallen for your weakness once, and that I could do the same.”

Taiyang and Qrow looked at each other, meanwhile Ruby was staring at her half-sister intently, taking in every word she said.

Qrow sighed. “Yang, you’re mother’s a complicated woman. She has a very… odd view of what strength is. I know you probably don’t trust either of us, but I’ll tell you right now, we are not weak.”

Yang shook her head. “I don’t know if that’s true. Frankly, I just met you, and don’t know what to believe.”

Taiyang grimaced, sitting back down, shaking his head as he dropped.

Yang walked up to him and leaned down so they were at eye level, and took her father’s hand. “But I’m willing to find out. I traveled across an ocean to come here, and I’m not going anywhere until I find whatever I came here for.”

Her father smiled. “And I’m looking forward to getting to know my daughter.”

Ruby stood up. “Does this mean you’re staying with us, Yang?”

Yang looked to her little sister and smiled. “I don’t know about me living here, but I’m gonna be around for at least a little.”

The little girl ran to her older sister and hugged her in response. “Welcome to the family, Yang.” Taiyang approached her and smiled, putting one hand on her older daughter’s shoulder before asking another question:

 

“So what’s this about a girlfriend?”


End file.
